INTERVENE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does intervene mean? 

• INTERVENE (verb)
  The verb INTERVENE has 3 senses:

1. get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force

2. be placed or located between other things or extend between spaces and events

3. occur between other event or between certain points of time

  Familiarity information: INTERVENE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INTERVENE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they intervene    ... he / she / it intervenes   
Past simple: intervened   
Past participle: intervened   
-ing form: intervening   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Get involved, so as to alter or hinder an action, or through force or threat of force

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

interfere; interpose; intervene; step in

Context example:

Why did the U.S. not intervene earlier in WW II?

Hypernyms (to "intervene" is one way to...):

interact (act together or towards others or with others)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "intervene"):

meddle; tamper (intrude in other people's affairs or business; interfere unwantedly)

interlope (encroach on the rights of others, as in trading without a proper license)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

intervenor ((law) a party who interposes in a pending proceeding)

intervention (the act of intervening (as to mediate a dispute, etc.))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be placed or located between other things or extend between spaces and events

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

Eight days intervened

Hypernyms (to "intervene" is one way to...):

lie (be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Occur between other event or between certain points of time

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

the war intervened between the birth of her two children

Hypernyms (to "intervene" is one way to...):

come about; fall out; go on; hap; happen; occur; pass; pass off; take place (come to pass)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

 Context examples 

An abnormal connection between arteries and veins characterized by the absence of intervening capillaries in the brain.

(Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformation, NCI Thesaurus)

An abnormal connection between arteries and veins characterized by the absence of intervening capillaries in the liver.

(Hepatic Arteriovenous Malformation, NCI Thesaurus)

He kept the fire brightly blazing, for he knew that it alone intervened between the flesh of his body and their hungry fangs.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“And you are also,” I continued, “a man one could not trust in the least thing where it was possible for a selfish interest to intervene?”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

She counted the days that must intervene before their invitation could be sent; hopeless of seeing him before.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

While data from Chandra and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton telescopes hinted that the power source was a pulsar, intervening clouds of gas blocked the view, making it difficult to see.

(Pulse of a Dead Star Powers Intense Gamma Rays, NASA)

Not as a direct effect or consequence; having intervening factors or persons or influences.

(Indirect, NCI Thesaurus)

There he intervened, and then it was, Colonel Walter, that to treason you added the more terrible crime of murder.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But many were the tedious hours which must yet intervene.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Jane, I approached the verge of despair; a remnant of self-respect was all that intervened between me and the gulf.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)